Jimin turned the page and pouted in disbelief, the last pages of the book were gone.

The black continuous cursive of characters came to an abrupt end as he turned the page. Torn and shredded stubs that sprouted from the binding of the book where pages were supposed to be disheartened him. Biting his lip he tried not to make it obvious to the younger ones at the loss of last page. They were already a handful as to begin with, he didn't need a dozen more tears at the unexplained ending.

"Hyung, and then what happened?" Big doey eyes of the younger jeungukk, the only older one who stayed back to hear Jimin's story time with the first level at the end of their night even though Jimin never really understood why asked curiously and a few of the younger ones snickered .
Jimin himself had to keep a wry smile of his own face. Sometimes it seemed like Jeongukk was far more interested in the children stories he read than the children themselves.

"Yeah what happened Jiminie hyung?" a young boy of six asked softly, Saito, Jimin thought fondly. Always so soft-spoken. Then there was the other children who were of the same age, except so very different. Ara who was bratty as a child could get, Wonho, an angel with a fierce temper, Chaesuk who was gigantic and yet a sucker for the dragon prince stories and soft little daisies, and finally of course Jeongukk who was more than a few years older than the other kids, his gigantic form taking up more space than anybody . His pout, the most brattish of all the six year olds combined.

"And then hades burned through all the nasty spirits and saved Thanatos and they lived happily ever after. " jimin smiled convincingly ignoring the sudden air of surprised and disbelieving silence that descended upon them.

He worried over his lip again, as jeongukk narrowed his eyes and the other children murmured between themselves. Shit, Jimin tried to save himself from the oncoming storm, but came up blank, the sun beating down on his back distractedly.
"But thats not detailed." Jeongukk and Jimin swallowed down groan. How was it his fault that the page was gone? And why the hell was Jenogukk so interested in children fables anyways?The younger, it seemed, had always been there at the back of the small cluster who liked to hear stories from him and Jimin never really remembered how jeongukk had started coming in the first place.

"Thats whats written."jimin defended with a huff at the youngers attention and rolled his eyes, too tired to even make up the details as a dull ache began from his head, pulsing its way between his eyes. Besides his throat had gone dry from narrating the story dot to dot to the younger children and jeongukk . Soft green blades brushed his bare soles as he stood up and packed up the books he had bought, scattered amongst the tree roots Jimin had been leaning against.

"Kookie leave your elder alone and go play." Their Gurai called from the door and jeungguks mood fell more into the ditch as his eyebrows frowned. His fingers twitched and played in his lap and like the many times before Jimin wondered if the boy would speak up any other time than story time. But that was never the case.

Amongst children, he would enthusiastic, playful and sometimes even bratty. But the moment, storytime was over, Jeongukk would regress back to that shy timid boy who would barely speak. Jimin had often tried to bring the boy out of his shell, but the latter never really cooperated. So Jimin left him alone.

"I dont wanna leave jimin hyung! I wanna hear what happens next!" Jeaongukk whined the moment the head teacher left and jimin let out a soft coo at the younger.

"Jeongukk-ah now you know that one shouldn't disobey the gurai," jimin chided the younger to fiddle with the threads of his woolen sweater, looking apologetic. "Sorry Jimin hyung." Jeongukk mumbled towards the ground and Jimin hummed in acknowledgment. He clapped his hands twice, signaling the end of their session and the children followed through immideatly albeit with grumpy whimpers on their tiny tongues.

Young sparrows chirped in their nests, in harmony with little bare feets on grass and dirt as the children dispersed obediently save for jeongukk. Jimin swiftly strapped his back and books, praying to his gods for Jeongukk to not open his mouth and let the thing go, but as usual, the gods were not on his side.

"Hyung." The younger one called for attention which jimin promptly ignored as he finally slipped on his slippers from the shelf provided near the corridors outside their classrooms. The runegem on the inside of his wrist gave a slight throb as it caught the light for a bit, turning the translucent rune engraved gem on the middle of his forehead, a stroke of gold.

Jeongukk winced at the flash, missing the way Jimin's hair stuck with a sudden exertion of sweat as his fists curled. This was happening a lot these days and he didn't know why. He hadn't told anyone about it yet, because he figured that whatever it was, it would pass.

The chimes of the gigantic bell from the bell tower far above their school chimed in indication for their dispersal and Jimin sighed in relief. At least now he could merge himself into the soothing bedsheets of his bed in his dorm without a bother.

Jimin watched as a thousand soft translucent and stray glinting races and clashed past as students heard their sound to freedom. Children of the kingdom, the minority of the runegem gifted ones , no matter where they were from or what parents they had, were required to attend the common academic place; from the age of eight to eighteen.

It was where the younger ones learnt their alphabets, languages, sciences and other essential subjects while the elder ones who had completed the said subjects learnt how to control and use their runegems from scholars and experts. The ones without the runegems on the other hand, the majority went to normal schools and achieved normal careers unlike these special children.

The runed ones worked for the kingdom. With their abilities they made excellent spies, commanders and soldiers. Since they were birthed, till their death, all of their lives, for their powers were controlled and already decided by the ones without the runes. Much like puppet on strings. But these children already lost in this planned labyrinth layed out and ingrained in them, so much that they didn't question in it.

"Hyung!" Jungkook's yell suddenly startled Jimin, who realized his surroundings and immediately ducked out of the way as thousands of wood splinters rushed past him in frightening uniformity. A hand grasping at the front of his shirt at the sudden mini heart attack he had gotten, he turned around with wide eyes to see an extremely tall boy sprinting after the wood splinters like a man after his dogs.

"Sorry!" A deep voice boomed out, the taller screeching to a stop beside Jimin and Jungkook. Jungkook's eyes were frantic as they rallied between Jimin and Taehyung like a tennis ball. He knew the tension they had, the fight that was about to brew.

"Taehyung." Jimin growled low in his throat. He was a cheery troublemaker that liked to cause trouble first and then smile in your face about it. "I have told you a thousand time not to play with your gif-"
"Blah blah i hear nothing!" Taehyung howled with his fingers in his ears before his eyes grew comically wide at the boy beside him. "Whose that hyung?" Taehyung asked, beautiful wide eyes peering at the the shy Jeongukk whi was trying his best to hide his tall frame behind Jimin.
"Jeongukk." Jimin sighed, breathing out his frustration. Tae was as disorganized as a person could get, it would do him no good to reprimand him, it was just a waste of breathe, so he was going to have to let it go.

"This is jeongukk. Jeonggukk, this is Tae, my classmate." Jimin introduced and both of them. Tae grinned and stuck an arm out grinning cheerily at the younger boy. "Hey."

Jeongukk's eyes fluttered over to Jimin before slowly bringing out a hand and clasping it in a surprisingly firm grip while biting his lip in nervousness. "Hey." Jenogukk didn't say anything more, letting go of Tae's hand quickly enough that an awkward air descended on them.

"Don't you say anything?" Taehyung inquired curiously, shaking out his hair from his eyes to see the younger better. Jeongukk was somebody who he had always seen behind classes or whilst walking in the corridors. A kind of beauty that looked bland against the pearly whiteness of the corridors but stood out anyways. Sort of like moonlight.

"Tae-hyung." Jeongukk nodded and the elder frowned, pouty lips turning own a bit at the corners.

"Taehyung? Call me hyung brat."

"Taehyung hyung?"

Taehyung giggled at Jeongukk's before reaching out an ruffling the younger's soft black hair. Jeongukk froze under the touch, mouth falling open adorably before he shut it quiet fast, looking away while a blush stained his cheeks red. Jeongukk watched as Taehyung walked away, stride free and long as he walked.

Jimin loosed a sigh a relief.

"So hyung what happens next?"Jeongukk repeated his previous question at Jimin like a clockwork toy and Jimin groaned, dragging a hand down his face, careful not to scratch his face with his own damn rune gem in the process."I told you already!" Jimin yells exasperatedly annoyed at the youngers lack of memory loss.

"No you did-"jeongukk starts only to be cut off by a sudden rush of thundering footsteps. Both of them instinctively turned towards the commotion, to find their school president running towards them in full speed. Namjoon's breathing was louder than his words as he came to a stop in front of them and Jimin suddenly wondered what had happened to have the usually calm and collected president running like his pants was on fire. Luckily, Namjoon wasn't one to play around the point.

"Jiminie! W-we got a new ruh-recruit." Namjoon panted heavily and Jimin was immediate to hand him his bottle of water from his own bag. He watched as Namjoon rose to his full form and gratefully accepted the drink, easily towering over both of them in the process. After drinking huge gulps of Jimin's water and almost finishing it, Jimin re-winded the president's words and processed it, frowning at the ridiculous notion, he was sure Namjoon was mistaken about.

"New recruit?" Jimin frowned in bewilderment. "In the middle of term?" They never accepted students in middle of term, no matter what. It interrupted with their studies so much that they were required to go back a year and start from the beginning if they had to.

"Th-thats not the only thing." Namjoon rasped, holding a finger up, eyes impossible wide with disbelief at the news, Jimin was sure he had gathered or been informed about. Namjoon didn't act on rumors, paid no heed to them unless they were facts. He had never seen the elder this off track at all, and it was one of the many things that Jimin respected about the elder. "Hes my age but hes going to be put in your level. And he's utterly new." Namjoon stressed the last word much to Jimin's increasing confusion.

"But we only admit at the age of eight?" Jeongukk asked and namjoon nodded frantically. "He's not Korean?" Jimin asked, brows furrowed, this had happened before when a half Korean had been admitted at the age of twelve after the family had to flee from on of the western continents after the great tsunami.

"Thats the thing. He is Korean and he has not received any type of schooling from before. Nobody knows why he's being recruited so late, of its according to your level then, still he's got a year left."

"Whats his runegem?" Jimin asked quietly.Jimin had long since learned that no matter what, In this fucked up world of the runegem gifted, the runegems were the one that mattered most.

Runegems that had been embedded on the inside of your wrist, encasing the powerful rune that would come to control your entire life. The runes were of five elements, fire , water, sky, air and earth. Elemental runegems mainly consisted of water gifted people who became naval officers, fire gifted ones used as commanders capable of destroying entire battlefields . Earth illusions were spies, sky and the air runed ones had power over dragons.

The runegems were only passed along offspring to offspring, and only if both the parents were gifted. Due to this, mating with normal humans were looked down upon, people who fell in love, were shunned from both societies like plague. In the academy they were shut out from the world to live amongst themselves and to learn from their elders on how to control their powers and use it for their country whether they wanted to or not.

A country that had them isolated, Jimin thought bitterly.

"Thats the thing. " Namjoon breathed as though he still couldn't wrap his mind around it even though he was the one who bore the news. "His is clear. " Jimin's mind tried to grasp at the meaning behind Namjoon's words but the lack of information due to Namjoon's vague words just made it more confusing. Jimin could almost feel his eyes flashing orange in frustration.

"What do you mean Namjoon hyung?. We all have clear rune gems with our particular runes on them. "

"No you dont understand Jimin-ah, hes literally got no rune on his rune gem."